StateImpact New Hampshire is dedicated to how government policy affects jobs and economy. So we’ve visited the candidates’ websites and done a spot of side research, examining their views on various economic policies. And we’ve generated a bullet-pointed cheat sheet…kind of a basic guide to where the Republican presidential candidates stand on a number of key economy-related issues.

This is by no means an exhaustive list of the candidates’ views.* It’s an overview of major points they’ve cited in their campaign websites and the little things that caught our eye.

We aren’t looking at why the candidates are proposing what they are, the feasibility of their plans, or analyzing possible consequences.

That’s what months’ worth of national political coverage has been for.

Instead, we just want to give you a decent starting point as you prepare to vote in the primary, indulge in heated debates, listen to election coverage, plot your political strategy, or otherwise participate in this mainstay piece of election-year Americana.

Before we kick-off the candidate-by-candidate overview, here’s a brief list of some points we’ve found where the Republican contenders agree:

Spending: Of all the candidates, Gingrich remains the murkiest on where, exactly, he proposes spending cuts (although he says he supports them). His campaign website offers no specifics. After trolling the internet, we decided to check in with the conservative Cato Institute. In a comparison of Republican candidates, they found one department–Education–that Gingrich appeared to be in favor of cutting. They did not, however, find a specific dollar figure tied to that proposed cut.

Other: Repeal the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002. (The law was passed in response to a number of high-profile corporate scandals, including WorldCom and Enron. Among other things, the act established new auditing standards for corporations.)

Other: Audit, then eliminate, the Federal Reserve. Return currency to the gold standard. No more raising the debt ceiling. Cut Defense spending by ending all foreign wars/engagements. Repeal the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002 (The law was passed in response to a number of high-profile corporate scandals, including WorldCom and Enron. Among other things, the act established new auditing standards for corporations.)

Corporate Taxes: Cut income tax from 35 percent to 20 percent, phase out corporate tax breaks and loopholes. Tax American companies on what they earn domestically, not their overseas earnings (territorial tax system, rather than worldwide).

Other: “Cut funding for National Labor Relations Board for decision preventing airplane factory in South Carolina.”

*Let’s say Rick Santorum and Newt Gingrich agreed on a specific policy point during a debate…but if Gingrich has been shouting it out as a key part of his platform, and Santorum’s been pretty quiet about it, you’ll probably see it in Gingrich’s list, and not in the Santorum column.

**Yes, we know the Ryan Plan also calls for privatizing Medicare and turning Medicaid into a block grant program. But we’re focusing on the broad strokes of Republican candidates’ policy positions vis-a-vis the economy, as opposed to dissecting their views on specific programs, like Medicare and Medicaid.

Thanks JakeSisco! Your link helped us “turn on the lights,” so to speak, for our Rick Santorum link section.

caroline

How about Buddy Roemer!?

Anonymous

I can see where you’re coming from there. But as with reporting anything else, sometimes, you have to draw some lines for the sake of time, if nothing else. In the Iowa Caucuses, Roemer pulled fewer votes than Herman Cain, who has actually suspended his campaign. For all practical intents and purposes, Cain isn’t running for president. And if we included Roemer, given his vote count, we would feel obligated to include Cain. And in NH, you can simply register to run in the primary and pay a fee. At that point, we’d have to include any number of minor candidates who would be running under the GOP label who, like Roemer, haven’t been a mainstay on the debate circuit.

But, in the interest of due diligence, I’ll be happy to point folks in the direction of Roemer’s website if they’d like to check out his views: http://www.buddyroemer.com/

Redefine

The only sane Republican is Ron Paul. And he has a snowballs chance in hell.

CPO Sharkey

There hasn’t been a sane republican (or for that matter a real republican) since Eisenhower.

Ddouin

Time to spend some quality time reviewing what Ron Paul has said and done in the last 20 years my friend.

dfswe

really… that guy is a total nutcase!

Jeanette Altimus

thanks for this….neat cheat sheet!!!

Anonymous

You’re welcome!

Amandalynn00200

Both Bachmann and Santorum’s websites only allowed for donations or book purchases yesterday…convenient (Iowa Caucus day) and unusual. Why not loudly broadcast your platform for undecided Caucus voters?

Soccermom_liz

Where is Buddy Roemer? Governor longer than Romney, Congressman, and private sector entrepeneur. He has more to say on the economy than the others combined!

My inspiration for this post was that I had yet to find a simple, streamlined, easy-to-compare rundown of each candidate’s basic positions on the economy. That’s what I was going for with this. But I’m always open to feedback, and would very much like to hear your ideas on how we could make future posts on economic issues more useful.

http://profiles.google.com/josiahstevenson Josiah Stevenson

…why respond to someone like that at all?

Anonymous

Mainly, it’s for purposes of diligence and engagement. Diligence because, well…if I really did get something (like a fact) wrong, or represented something in an unclear way, for ethical purposes, I should try to fix it. Based on the lack of response, it’s probably safe to chalk it up to a matter of taste, which is what I suspected.

As for the engagement angle, I believe that if I respond to positive comments, I should make a point to respond to negative ones, too, as politely as possible, in the interest of keeping my little corner of the online community lively.

Andrew Riese

Thanks for this, Ms. Loder. This is the first time I’ve seen a writer respond in such a democratic, respectful way on an internet message board. Very commendable. (And thanks for the article, too!)

fervently cavalier

I switched from Libertarian to Republican just to vote for Ron Paul in the primary…When he doesn’t get the nod, back to Lib I go with Gary Johnson!

Matthew

sitting watching Kennedy and reading this and everyone is talking about tax cuts, but if we are already in the red and all candidates talk about tax cuts, why don’t any of them lok at statistics and figures and give real proposals to face a global recession!

http://pulse.yahoo.com/_FV26IUGKWRM4MMHODQP3RO4E3U anti-matter

Amanda Loder – you are gorgeous! If I come to NH for the primary voting day, I’d love to meet you for dinner, coffee, or drinks, or a combination thereof.

I like what you’ve done here – nicely done. I think it would be even more compelling in chart form…. It would make Ron Paul’s sane positions stand out even more. I did that in the 2004 caucuses here in WA-State and managed to get many people in the Kerry, Edwards, and Clark camps to change over to Dean. It was so much fun. hahah!

Cheers! Maybe I’ll see you in NH.
-Johnny

Anonymous

Thanks for the lovely comment!

Gary80

What about plans to grow the economy ( I see only spending cuts)? What about investments in higher education and infrastructure?

Anonymous

At the risk of oversimplification, the overarching Republican philosophy on how to fix the economy tends to be along the lines of “give the economy the tools and a lot of space away from government interference to heal itself.” And those “tools,” at least as far as this cycle’s slate of GOP candidates is concerned, are primarily tax cuts, spending cuts, and curbing various regulations on business. The belief is that the funds cut from government coffers will flow into the private sector, which will allow businesses greater access to capital to expand, hire more people, and thus grow the economy.

That’s not to say that none of the GOP candidates have infrastructure or higher education funding plans. Rather, they didn’t fit into this particular post as the candidates didn’t really cite them as the main drivers in their economic recovery plans.

dianogas

This is VERY helpful!!! Would you be able to put together a cheat sheet or overview of where they stand on key non-economic issues? Social issues, the military, education, etc? Wouldn’t need to be as detailed as this….

Anonymous

Thanks for the nice comment, dianogas! That is a good idea, but I’m afraid as a business/economy reporter, I’m pretty well tied to the economics beat. I’m glad you found the cheat sheet helpful, though!

http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=1248704942 Gracemarie Collins

Lets elect Gary Johnson for President. He supports the Fair Tax HR 25. This is the only hope for America. A simple, fair and transparent tax on consumption. Replaces all federal income tax and abolishes the IRS. http://www.fairtax.org

Clockrjoe

I don’t see how you can give a clear picture of the candidates views if you dismiss that part of the Ryan Plan that ends Medicare “as we know it” and don’t get each candidates stance on that part of the plan.

BrianG

Good on you, Amanda Loder…Helpful indeed. You should keep this as a “living” document and update when necessary.

Peter

O has to go!!

http://pulse.yahoo.com/_KRCHIOSA7K7BBKNAWF2QDOGXHU GJ

Ron Paul can beat Barack Obama in November !

Aphrodisiaciix

I will vote for a candidate who would: 1. Eliminate personal income taxes completely and instead install a national sales tax – say at 5% – and a strict and robust property tax, which will heavily rated on luxury estates and goods. 2. Corporate taxes should be based on total earnings (domestically and internationally). 3. Take control of college tuition and prices of textbooks. 4. Take control of health costs and bust the strangle hold of pharmaceutical companies on drugs costs and monopoly. 5. Eliminate lobbyists and make it illegal for such activities. 6. Eliminate the Federal Reserve, DOE, TSA, Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac… and other obsolete or incompetent agencies. 7. Strict spending proportionately to our GDP and set a reachable goal for a balanced budget. 8. Make it illegal for the government to use Social Security money other than its defined purpose (i.e. to pay its citizens when it’s time for them to collect). 9. Stop using our military as an instrument of foreign policy. 10. Term limit for senators and representatives. Eliminate all absurd benefits and perks. Also, make it illegal for congress to give itself a raise. 11. All military personnel will be paid on par with their civilian counterparts. All military personnel will be with full benefits after serving actively for 4 years, whether during war time or not. Make it mandatory for all males and females under the age of 30 to serve for 2 years.

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StateImpact New Hampshire was a reporting project of New Hampshire Public Radio and NPR focused on explaining how business and economic issues affect you. For continued coverage of New Hampshire’s economy, tune into NHPR or visit nhpr.org.